Divergent in Candor
by BellatrixHazelRose
Summary: When the Dauntless attacked Candor headquarters, Tris saved a Divergent. But who was she? This is the story of Stephanie, a Divergent in Candor, struggling to keep a dangerous secret in a faction where nobody lies. Now the city is at war, and the Divergent are being hunted more than ever. Death could be just around the corner. How will she survive? Rated T because it's Divergent.
1. Chapter 1

Divergent in Candor

My name is Stephanie Murray, and I am Divergent. I've known since I was eight, when they put me under truth serum and it didn't work. Everyone takes truth serum at one point or another when you're in Candor, but people have told me you don't know what you said until it's over, and that's not what happened. The serum had to battle my mind. Though I didn't have any secrets, I've never been completely accepting of my faction's version of honesty, where you have to tell everyone everything. I resisted. And it was hard, but I won.

Since then, I have tried to find out everything I can about the Divergent without revealing what I am. I have discovered that the Divergent can resist simulations, and sometimes, though it is rarer, serums. Even for a Divergent, I am different. I am stronger, but that will just make me easier to detect, and living in a compound full of people trained to detect lies doesn't help. Now, I am 13, and it is even more dangerous. Erudite attacked Abnegation. Half of the Dauntless are now allied with them. And I have heard that they are targeting the Divergent.

Today, I am going to solve the biggest mystery of my life: me. I found a Divergent woman who administered the aptitude tests, and still has some of the serum. Today, I will find out where I belong. I make my way through my faction's headquarters to a hallway nobody uses. I go into one of the rooms and find Molly, the woman I came to meet. She is in her early thirties, with blondish-brown hair and a bright smile, but when I enter, she relaxes, her smile disappearing and her body language betraying the lie she has had to live for her whole life. I think about how hard it must have been for her. She told me that she had a very weak Divergence, that hers was overlooked in the aptitude test and she didn't find out about it until she had already chosen Candor, her faction of origin and possibly one of the most dangerous choices for a Divergent. I don't want to leave my family, but I know that when the time comes, I will have to transfer to be safe. So I want to know where else I belong, at least partly. It is against the rules to prepare for the aptitude test in any way, so I'm definitely not supposed to be doing this, but I need to know how to not act Divergent when the time comes for my official test, and I want to know who I am. I sit down.

"Ready?" Molly asks as she attaches the electrodes to me.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I say, swallowing the vial of clear liquid. I close my eyes. When I open them, I am in a large room. A table in front of me has two baskets, one with a knife and one with cheese.

"Choose," says a voice from behind me.

I need to be prepared for anything. I pick up the knife, gripping it tightly in my hand. A door squeaks open behind me and when I turn I am faced with a large dog, teeth bared, growling at me. I look at the knife in my hand and I know what I am supposed to do, but my mind fills with images of my dog, and I can't. I remember something I read in my textbook at school. If dogs smell fear, or if you look them in the eyes, they will attack. I look down and close my eyes, taking deep breaths, willing myself to stay calm. The growling stops, and I tentatively open one eye a bit. The dog is wagging its tail and running towards me. It brushes against my leg, and I tense for a moment, but it's okay.

Then, a little girl, maybe five years old, comes into the room. She sees the dog and screams, "Puppy!" The dog growls and lunges at her. It is almost on top of her when I run up and stab it in the stomach. I look down at my hand, still clutching the knife. I can't believe what I just did. I don't have time to reflect. The room around me whirls away, the knife disappearing from my hand. I blink, and I am on a bus. Sitting beside me is a man reading a newspaper. I can't see his face, but there are burns on his hands.

"Do you know this guy?" he asks, tapping the the picture on the front page, which reads, "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" The picture shows a young man with a beard, and I have a strange feeling that I know him, but I don't think I should tell.

"No," I say.

"You're lying," he accuses me.

"No I'm not."

"If you know him, you could save me. You could save me!" he says in a low voice.

"I don't," I say firmly, and then I wake up, a deep guilt in my chest.

Molly pulls the wires off of me, and my original nervousness returns.

"What were the results?" I ask her.

"You're definitely Divergent, and one of the strongest I've ever seen," she says. I see hesitation in her eyes.

"Molly," I ask, "what were the results?" She takes a deep breath.

"Dauntless," she says, "and Erudite."

**Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent, unfortunately. **


	2. Chapter 2

** Hi everyone! Thanks so much to Cliffdiverwarriorcat and poseidon's hufflepuff daughter for reviewing and favoriting! Let's go for 5 reviews this time!**

_Dauntless and Erudite._ It's all that I can think about as I walk slowly down the stairs, in the headquarters of a faction that was never really mine. I always thought I would be Candor, but when I lied, it ruled me out for that. I should have known. I have had to lie for my whole life. I should have known I wouldn't be Candor, but I let myself believe I would, because of my family, and also because, well, if I already knew one, then I only had to worry about one other possibility. _Dauntless and Erudite._ I belong in the factions of killing and plotting, the factions that murdered the Abnegation and tore our city apart. _Dauntless and Erudite._ If this hadn't happened, would I have chosen Erudite, who killed an entire faction in their own homes? Would I have chosen Dauntless, the faction who was always okay with killing, and even after the simulation ended, continued to support the Erudite? _Dauntless and Erudite._ I belong in the factions most dangerous for a Divergent. Would I have chosen one of them and risked death, or chosen Amity or Abnegation and become somebody else, somebody I never was?

I am shaken from my wandering thoughts by the crowd gathering on the stairs in front of me. I look over the railing into the lobby of Candor headquarters, where men and women in black clothing are pushing through the doors to get into the building. Dauntless. Some people back away, but I move forward, drawn to the faction that could have been mine, wondering why they are here, what the Erudite are going to do. I reach the front of the crowd and keep going. A Dauntless man emerges from the middle, carrying a Dauntless girl with pink streaks in her hair and blood all over her leg. He comes up to me, and I realize I am the closest to the Dauntless. All the others have backed away or left, but I am so close.

"She was shot by the traitors when we wouldn't stay with the Erudite," he says, "Can you help her?"

"You aren't with them?" I ask, barely believing it.

"Not all of our faction are traitors."

I take the girl, who can't be more than nine years old, in my arms and walk back to the others. They part as I carry the injured girl through. As I walk, I think about what the man said. Not all of the Dauntless support the Erudite. They aren't all bad. Maybe, I hope, that is the part of Dauntless where I belong. I reach the doors of the hospital wing and go through, handing the girl to a nurse. As I do so, I realize for the first time that she carries a gun and ammunition belt on her waist. She was under the simulation too. I feel sick at the thought of this little girl under a simulation, waking up branded as a murderer without choosing it.

I wait anxiously outside the door of the girl's room. A doctor comes out of it.

"Will she be all right?" I ask.

"The bone was not hit; it was just a flesh wound. She will be fine. However, she will need to stay here overnight in order to make a full recovery," he replies in the stiff, formal tone of the Erudite, and as I am filled with relief, I also realize that he _is_ an Erudite, that all of our doctors are. Maybe there is a good side to Erudite too. I never thought about the factions like this before, having different sides to them. But being smart, or brave, or honest, or kind, or selfless, all have good and bad things about them. It is just that now, in this war-torn city, that I am finally realizing it.

I wander around, listening to people's conversations. Apparently, about half of Dauntless is here. I walk upstairs to where they are staying. Looking around, I spot the man from earlier over in the far corner of the room. I walk over to him, and he notices me right away.

"Is she okay?" he asks.

"The doctor said she'll be fine, she just needs to stay there overnight," I reply, and he relaxes, relieved. After a few moments, I find my voice again.

"What's her name?" I ask softly.

"Sierra," he says, "And I'm Luke. What's your name?"

"Stephanie."

"What happened to the typical Candor 'politeness is deception in pretty packaging'?" he asks teasingly.

"Well, as you pointed out yourself to me a little while ago, there can be different parts of a faction. Not everyone is the same."

"Good point."

"It was your point."

"Exactly."

I find myself laughing for no reason, and it is great. I haven't felt so relaxed since I found out I was Divergent. Maybe I do belong in Dauntless.

"Luke?" I ask when I stop laughing, "what with the fighting and everything, I was wondering-well, I was wondering if you could teach me to defend myself. I don't like being completely unprotected."

"Okay," he says, although he seems a bit surprised, "Sounds good."


	3. Chapter 3

I take a deep breath, exhale and throw. The knife sticks in the target at the edge of the center circle.

"Good one," says Sierra as the three of us retrieve our knives from the targets. Hers is just a bit low from the center, and Luke's is a perfect bull's-eye. It has been three days since the Dauntless arrived. Sierra's leg is doing much better, and Luke has been teaching the two of us defense. Sierra already knows some of it, because she was born Dauntless, but we are both learning a lot. I found out that Luke is her older brother, and she is older than I thought, eleven but short for her age. The three of us have become great friends.

We throw our knives again and mine hits in almost the same place. Luke comes over and adjusts my hand a little. I throw again, and it hits the center of the target. Bull's-eye! Luke and Sierra congratulate me and I'm so happy, the past few days I have really felt Dauntless. But deep down I know that this is just training, real bravery is so much more. But I will work as hard as I can at this so I can be ready, and hopefully, if something happens, I will be brave.

Three tries later, Sierra hits her first bull's-eye. To celebrate, Luke takes us to the cafeteria and finds us Dauntless cake, which I have never tried before but looks delicious. I take a bite and it is amazing! Sierra sees the look on my face and laughs.

"It's great, isn't it?" she says, still laughing. We finish our cake and head back to the Dauntless area, but on our way, I hear the front entrance open. I remember the last time I heard it open, when the Dauntless came and Sierra was bleeding so badly, and I feel a sense of foreboding. Two teenagers in black enter. More Dauntless. Are they loyal or traitors? The boy is obviously Dauntless, with a tough, proud look on his face and tattoos all over, but he has an Abnegation haircut. Interesting. The girl is short with blond hair and a tattoo of birds on her collarbone. When I see the tattoo, I know where I have seen these two before. They are from the attack simulation footage. He was the one running the simulation, and she was the one who got him away when the simulation shut down. Or at least that's what my faction thinks. Personally, I think there was a machine-like aspect to the way he ran the simulation, as if he himself were under it, and the timing of the simulation shutting down just when they left does not seem a coincidence to me. I don't think they did what they are accused of. But my faction does.

Even as I think this, a group of armed Dauntless surround them.

"Identify yourselves," says one.

"Four," says the boy, "and this is Tris. Both Dauntless."

I remember Four. Luke told me about him. He was in the initiation class after Luke's, and he's famous among the Dauntless for having only four fears, the lowest number in recent years.

"Some help here?" she asks, and more Dauntless step forward.

"Is there a problem?" asks Four.

"Are you armed?"

"Of course I'm armed," he says, "I'm Dauntless, aren't I?"

"Stand with your hands behind your head," she says. The girl, Tris, gives Four a questioning look like she doesn't know what's happening. Maybe my instinct is right, and they didn't do what they are accused of. But there is still the incriminating video footage, and I should know that the Candor will never rest until they know the truth.

"We walked through the front door," Tris says slowly, "You think we would have done that if we were here to hurt you?"

Four complies, and after a moment of hesitation, Tris does the same. The Dauntless surrounds them. They take Four's gun and pat him down. A Dauntless boy looks apologetically at Tris, hesitating.

"I have a knife in my back pocket," she says, "Put your hands on me, and I will make you regret it."

He carefully takes the knife and backs away.

"What's going on?" asks Four. The Dauntless look at each other.

"I'm sorry," says one, "But we were instructed to arrest you upon your arrival."

** Divergent fanfiction just can't be good without Dauntless cake! Most of the dialogue in this chapter is taken right from the book. I do not own Divergent.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I was almost done with chapter 4 and then it got accidentally deleted. Now I have to start over, so this update might take a bit longer than usual. Also, after chapter 4, I won't be updating for a while because I'm going to be in a friend's wedding so I'm really busy, and then I have camp for a week, also known as The Land Without Internet. I'll try to update as soon as I get back, but yeah, it's going to be a while. Thanks for reading!**

**-BellatrixHazelRose**


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